Have you ever joined a peaceful protest? Aren’t freedom of speech, freedom of assembly worth protecting?
Clamping down on such freedoms is essential for any movement toward authoritarianism. And sadly this country is rapidly moving in that direction. These are times that call for peaceful protest.
Yesterday I wrote about polycrisis. One of the examples of risks that are commonly associated with polycrisis is the crisis of democracy.
Crisis of Democracy includes issues of corruption, political polarization, decreasing institutional legitimacy, and rising authoritarianism. Falling rates of democratic participation and the diminishing health of democracies exacerbate most other systemic risks, as misalignment between political elites and the public interest make progress on urgent issues less likely.
The global polycrisis reflects a civilizational crisis that calls for systemic alternatives by Zack Walsh, Omega, June 1, 2023
These days it is hard to be shocked by almost anything, but I am truly shocked to learn about the latest attacks on those who are trying to stop the construction of Cop City in Atlanta. Shocked to learn of the arrest of several people whose crime was organizing a bail fund
Bail Funds
Bail funds are an important part of many activist communities. Many of us who engage in public protests might hesitate to do so if there wasn’t a bail fund. Especially if civil disobedience is planned.
ON WEDNESDAY MORNING, a heavily armed Atlanta Police Department SWAT team raided a house in Atlanta and arrested three of its residents. Their crime? Organizing legal support and bail funds for protesters and activists who have faced indiscriminate arrest and overreaching charges in the struggle to stop the construction of a vast police training facility — dubbed Cop City — atop a forest in Atlanta.
In a joint operation with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, or GBI, Atlanta cops charged Marlon Scott Kautz, Adele Maclean, and Savannah Patterson — all board members of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund — with “money laundering” and “charity fraud.”
The arrests are an unprecedented attack on bail funds and legal support organizations, a long-standing facet of social justice movements, according to Lauren Regan, executive director of the Civil Liberties Defense Center.
“This is the first bail fund to be attacked in this way,” Regan, whose organization has worked to ensure legal support for people resisting Cop City, told me. “And there is absolutely not a scintilla of fact or evidence that anything illegal has ever transpired with regard to Atlanta fundraising for bail support.”
ATLANTA POLICE ARREST ORGANIZERS OF BAIL FUND FOR COP CITY PROTESTERS. Part of a brutal crackdown on dissent against the police training facility, the SWAT raid and charges against the protest bail fund are unprecedented by Natasha Lennard, The Intercept, May 31, 2023
The fund also aimed to highlight the need for bail reform and challenge the current system that disproportionately affects low-income individuals and communities of color
The organizers of the bail fund sought to provide financial support to protesters who might not otherwise be able to afford bail, allowing them to continue participating in the movement and maintain their freedom while awaiting trial. The fund also aimed to highlight the need for bail reform and challenge the current system that disproportionately affects low-income individuals and communities of color.
The arrest of bail fund organizers is not only an injustice to them, but also a threat to democracy and social justice. It is part of a larger effort to silence and suppress the voices of those who oppose police brutality, racial injustice, environmental destruction, and corporate greed. It is also part of a larger pattern of criminalizing solidarity and mutual aid, which are essential for building strong and resilient communities.
The campaign to defend the forest in Atlanta, Georgia has become one of the most vibrant movements of the post-Trump era, interweaving environmentalism, abolitionism, and the fight against gentrification. Yet as police shift to employing lethal violence and indiscriminate terrorism charges, it has reached a critical juncture. Participants explore how this struggle has developed over the past year, reflecting on the practices that have given it strength and analyzing the challenges before it.
The Forest in the City. Two Years of Forest Defense in Atlanta, Georgia by CrimethInc., 2/22/2023
Quakers and Mutual Aid 
One thought on “Bail Fund Arrests”